$1/$2 NL ?!?!?!

Well it was finally time for my occasional trip to go play live poker. poker1eh and I pulled into the casino at about 6:00 PM Friday only to be met with a blank stare when asking about a $3/$6 limit game. We were the first two put on the "interested" list and (as it turns out) that list never got above 5 people the entire time we were there.

So, it was a matter of turning around and going home or deciding to dip our toes in the smallest NL game in the room - $1/$2 NL, $50 min, $200 max buyin. Since I had just taken out $200 CDN to play $3/$6 I figure a decent plan is to buy in for $100 (twice if necessary) and then leave if I get felted twice. poker1eh had pretty much the same idea, so we throw our names as 5th and 6th on the waiting list for $1/$2 NL and then hope that we get thrown on the same table.

About 45 minutes later, there are enough people to start a new table and a dealer arrives to service that need and we're off and running! poker1eh and I choose consecutive seats (me with position on him LDO) and about 5 people post dead blinds on the first hand to get us up and running. I have some K-rag, hit a K on the flop, and take it down with a small bet on the flop. Always nice to win the first hand!

The table was very-very limpy and super passive. A typical hand was 5 limpers, a checked BB, and an $8 bet takes it town on the flop. We are a few orbits in when the only hand that really matters to my whole night occurs:

I am sitting on about $130 and overlimp Kc 9c in MP. I believe we go 6-ways for a single bet.

Flop is nearly the best flop I can imagine: Ac 9d 4c giving me a pair and the nut flush draw.

It is checked to me, I bet $10 into the $12 pot and get insta-raised to $25 by the next guy to act. Folded back to me. I obviously have a monster draw here (I figure I am equity-neutral vs. almost any Ace) and my only decision was to call or to shove right here. I didn't know my exact stack size at the time, but I did know that a shove would be a way-over-pot size bet, and (for whatever reason) though that was inappropriate. So, I just called the $15 after about 20 seconds of deliberation. $62, I have about $100 behind, and the aggressor easily has me covered. I exaggeratedly check dark before the turn is even dealt.

Turn was the beautiful, beautiful 2c. I wait for the guy to act, but it appears he didn't see me check dark, so I reiterate my check. He bets $40, I hesitate (not long enough to Hollywood, but it wasn't instantaneous), and announce "all-in" pushing my chips forward.

Here's where it goes a little sideways for me. He asks for a count and even though my brain is screaming "let the dealer count it idiot !!!!" my hands are out there trying to cut the chips into neat piles and failing miserably. I am shaking, and I don't think it is too subtle at all. At some point after what seems like minutes of fumbling (but was probably only 10 seconds) I actually do motion for the dealer to count. "$104, $74 more to call" announces the dealer after a sickeningly smooth cutting of my piles into neat stacks. I feel like such a dumbass, even now recalling the moment.

The guy starts talking "Man, why'd you have to go and do that? What do you have?" and tanks for what I'd say is 2 minutes at least. Easily the longest decision so far and (as it would turn out) the longest decision of the night. He cuts $74 more out of his stack and just stares at it for a bit, looking back and forth between it and the rest of his stack. He finally pushes it forward with a "call" and flips AQo!!! Wow. I'm thinking the whole time he is on a set or a minimum of two pair to take that long to call me, unless he took my near epileptic-seizure while counting my chips as nervousness from a bluff . I'm not quite sure what he thought AQo was ahead of (except that bluff), but I'm obviously glad he called me drawing dead. $270 pot shipitplz.

Believe it or not, not much else happened after that. Small up-and-down variations in the stack. The table got significantly more aggro as the night went on, and (in particular) I had a large stacked guy sit to my immediate left and although he was playing crap cards, it severely constrained what I could do, especially since he kept hitting with all of them. I bet he had $500 in front of him by the time I left. A real-life demonstration of the power of position I suppose.

poker1eh was having significantly less luck than I. Four times he flopped big draws (including 3 of them being OESD + pair combos) and got it all in on the flop against hands that had no business calling his push, and whiffed every one of them. When he lost his final chips from his $200 I finished out the revolution and went for a drink and snacks with him, cashing out for $210 (+$110 CDN profit).

Overall the night was fun - I had a much better time when the table was limpy-passive, but I got increasingly uncomfortable as it got more aggro and especially once the big stack guy was to my left. Would I do it again? Well, considering it might be my only chance to play live poker, I don't know that I have a choice....